Thursday, July 04, 2024

observance

no doors will open 
only borders
and they are
the preludes
to resentment

but think if only you
could be very
quiet, become 
very small you 
could slip through

to sit liminal as a god 
at the crossroads
agonize, organize
infinite as the sun...
falls down 
_________________

Note: Not much of a July 4th celebration this year. On a logistical level, LB, my usual Independence Day date is off at a wedding. Plus it was rainy, so I felt less inclined to seek out parades and outdoor concerts, and Nu and Big A like a low-key evening anyway. On a critical level, the past week of Supreme Court rulings (esp. criminalizing homeless people while giving presidents almost monarchial immunity) has shaken me. "America doesn't deserve a birthday party this year" is a theme/mood on my socials. Also: a lot of anticipatory dread and anxiety about the upcoming elections (esp. as I foresee a lot of in-fighting on the left). I wonder--and worry--about where we'll be as a nation next year this time.

Pic: A red-white-and-blue pic of Lansing fireworks SJ shared.

7 comments:

Sarah said...

Ooof yes to your last few sentences. We leaned in to local biz and kitsch celebration but YES. So much angst and dread.

Nicole said...

"If you can't behave properly, then no birthday party for you!" - literally everyone.

Gillian said...

Nice photo.

StephLove said...

I wonder about that, too.

We did go to our town's parade (Noah and me, Beth and North were both out of town) and we were going to have a backyard picnic, but rain drove us to the porch.

NGS said...

At a BBQ yesterday with a fair number of historians and political scientists and all we could keep talking about was late-stage capitalism and the crumbling of a republic. Scary stuff, especially since there were kids running around. What of their futures? It was not the most celebratory of holidays.

Jenny said...

Yeah, it was hard to feel celebratory. I keep trying to remind myself that the country has been through other dark days and made it through. On the other hand, maybe it's time for the existing structure to crumble and be rebuilt from scratch. Gulp.

maya said...

I'm sorry everyone seems to be feeling anxious about the upcoming months too...

Sarah--I'm so glad to hear you celebrated with your kids. Hope is so, so important.

Nicole--Right?

Gillian--Thanks!

Steph--I hope when the weekend rolls around you'll all be reunited

Engie and Jenny--both of you used the "C" word (crumble)--that's exactly how it feels... like we're witnessing the end of the American Empire.

Some instances of writing I was happy to see today:

*     All the progress I'm making with indexing the book--a task I've never undertaken before. *     The kind, nondramatic way the h...